John Brookes, influential British garden designer – obituary

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John Brookes, who has died aged 84, was one of the world’s leading garden designers, and a pioneer of the principle that gardens should primarily be designed for the benefit of people rather than plants.

Brookes scorned the “middle-class, bigger-flower-is-better-flower mentality – the RHS way of thinking”. Too many gardeners, he felt, were preoccupied with “fiddly-diddly horticulture and the pretence of gracious living”. With a flair for the art that conceals art, he created gardens that appeared relaxed, whether attached to country houses or suburban semis.

He started out by asking what the owners actually wanted from their garden – a backdrop for eating or entertaining, an area for children...